Allegiance
by mystjade
Summary: AU: No vampires (but not all human either): Buffy is a spy for the C.I.A. Angel is a rivel agent, trying to save Ireland. Now beta-ed. COMPLETE
1. The Belfest Hotel

Authors Note 1: This story is An AU set in a world were the cold war never ended and there are no vampires (but it's not all human either). Buffy is a spy working for the CIA. This story is partially an homage to Alias(with Buffyverse charichters. . .And Daniel Jackson from stargate SG:1), although the over arching plot is mine.

Authors Note 2: This has now all been betad, by the incredible life saving BeraMoon

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to someone else. I

Buffy POV:

I entered the Belfast hotel, with a sway in my mini skirt covered hips. A little too mini for my taste. But to pass as a billionaire's trophy wife, I could hardly dress like a prude, could I?

I approached the concierge's gold plated desk, humming a pop hit and swinging my Lois Vitton purse.

"Hello, can help you?" The concierge said.

"Yes" I said in my best southern accent, "I feel like such an idiot. But I left my keys in my room, before I went out to the park. And now I'm locked out. Is there any way I could get a replacement key?"

The concierge gulped, and shifted nervously in his shoes. "No I am sorry, it's against policy". He paused then noticing my downcast expression, he offered a plausible solution "Innless you happen to have your passport on you/"

I blushed (deliberately of course), then in a voice that was getting steadily more southern by the moment I said "No, but my husband might actually be in, he planed to nap this afternoon. I guess I could phone him. He's just been so tired lately, I would hate to wake him up"

I sighed heavily as the concierge looked at me, closer; he seemed to genuinely want to help me. That should make my job all the more easier, and get him fired. "No I guess I could phone him".

The concierge nodded "which room are you in?"

"815, my husbands name Is Steven Moss"

The concierge stopped short. The name Steven Moss tended to have that effect on people. Moss is a billionaire who runs the largest technological innovation firm in the world. He is young, charismatic, and as I mentioned before wealthy. In short he was not the kind of guy you wanted to wake up from a nap.

"Perhaps I can make an exception, for you Mrs Moss. Just this once"

I smiled, a genuine smile, as I accepted the keys that the concierge handed me.

I blew a kiss at the already blushing concierge as I stepped on to the elevator.

Seventeen floors, and five steps later, I found myself staring at the door to suite 415. I knocked just to make sure Moss wasn't actually talking a nap. When no one answered I used the key card to enter.

The suite was richly decorated. Layers of velvet, and red were thrown over each other.

I did a brief search of the rooms, looking for the disk that held the plans, or a safe that held the disk that held the plans.

Nothing dramatic happened: no ninja's jumped out of the closet (much to my dismay – I was really hoping I would have to fight), and the room was annoying free of secrets.

So I had to resort to a more thorough search, I tapped on all the walls, dumped out all the drawers and then began looking behind the paintings.

Apparently Moss was a traditionalist, because behind painting No. 3 there was a safe. I reached down into my Lois Vitton purse and fished out a small item that was roughly the size of a pill. Although this, I would not like to swallow. I stuck the "pill" (which in actually was plastique) to the safe door, and took one step back.

I should have taken three, because when the plastique blew: half the wall went along with the safes lock.

I was covered in dust and plaster from the explosion. I was about to dust myself off when the alarm went.

Within seconds I could here guard's footsteps in the hall. Great! I opened up the damaged safe grabbed the diskette, and ran for the door.

Too late for that. Three armed muscular guards were standing in front of it. The guards I could have taken, but guns? I am not a miracle child (or even a child anymore for that matter).

Instead I ran for the balcony, the guard's bullets missed me, but that didn't seem to matter. From the balconies there was no were else to go.

I turned back to see five guards. Wow, so that cut down my options to none.

I looked around one last time hoping to find an answer, when I noticed that one window over there was another balconies. Albeit it was a four foot long jump Away.

Oh what the hell. It wasn't as if I had another options. I jumped

And cleared the distance easily, I scrambled over the ledge, and ran to the other end of this balcony.

When I reached the other end, I saw that the next balconies were a fifteen-foot jump. I was good but not _that_ good.

That's when I looked down and saw the pool, instead of cement.

Although the pool was still four floors away. But water had to be softer then cement right? So I jumped, straitening out into a dive as I fell, and then plunged into the wet deep.

I swam to the other end of the pool, and climbed out dripping wet, my barely there clothes now even less there, I ran toward the van.

Twenty minutes later, a safe distance (hopefully) from the hotel, I handed my partner and getaway driver Willow the diskette.

She popped the diskette into her laptop as I tried to comb through my hair.

"Shit"

It wasn't like willow to swear, so I looked up at the screen, were instead of weapons plan the following message was displayed

"Sorry, the weapons plan you are looking for is no longer here. We apologize for the in convince. Yours Truly- The International Nomads."

"The I.N. " I spat out the name. The International nomads better known, as the I.N. was an espionage organization that was not affiliated with any country. We did know were the funding came from, and we did not know what the I.N.'s goals were.

But the C.I.A. Was well aware that they were a threat, they had cost us too much lately, for us to remain naive. This was the third time they had gotten there first in this month alone, and we were no closer to discovering more about them.


	2. LA and Dublin

Buffy POV: CIA Headquarters LA

I hate meetings, particularly when they began with the boss screaming at you. It's not like it was my fault that the I.N. had got there first.

I spent the rest of the meeting drawing Angel wings on my notebook paper, and imagining deputy director Giles with a target on his head. I know that doesn't sound very professional of me, but the whole point of becoming a spy was to avoid the boredroom.

Finally after an hour and half, talking about exercise requirements, Giles got to me. Or rather my assignment "Agent Summers. Your Next mission is part of are ongoing effort to destroy the I.N. They have cost us too much already, and we know far too little about them. But last week, A member of the I.N., A lower level bureaucrat named Thomas, offered to reveal all that he knows about the International Nomads in exchange for immunity."

"And three million dollars" Willow whispered in my ear

"Quite" Giles said his head bobbing slightly. Then he turned away from the blushing Willow and continued, "We must extract him carefully, without alerting the I.N." Giles said stiffly

"Because if they know, they will kill him, and if he's dead, he's pretty much useless to us." I said, and then recoiled. Shocked by my own callousness.

Giles wrinkled his nose in distaste "Buffy, a little decorum please. Any ways you will meet him In Glasgow. At McCarthy's Pub, tomorrow nine pm, local standard time. From there you will sneak him out of the country. Marshall has the details and your tools. "

That's it? I had waited an hour and a half just to be told to go visit Marshall, the resident tech guy. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Dismissed" Giles said, even though half the room had already exited. Willow and I left the boardroom together, chatting.

"So I guess your going to have to cancel tomorrows, dinner and a movie date with Alexander" Willow asked me. I hadn't had the heart to tell Willow that Alex, AKA Mr. Perfect had dumped me in e-mail, this morning.

That's even more depressing then being dumped over the phone, and that had happened to me multiple times. It turns out that boyfriends, like seeing their better halves, more then once a month. The only thing harder then being a spy in my mind is being a spy with a stable love life.

I was about to answer Willows question about Alex, with a polite "I guess", when suddenly one very loud voices interrupted my thought's.

"Just because she jumped ten feet does not make her an alien. Buffy's one hundred and twenty percent human."

There was a pause, and I entered the room, Willow was right behind me. We found ourselves starring at Marshall: the owner of the voice, His opponent during this particular debate, was one MS Kelly Marshall, his wife of three months.

Marshall still continued oblivious to our presence. However his wife was not, she tapped him on the shoulder mid rant, Marshall turned, then stooped half way through a swear word infested sentence when he saw me. "Oh hi Buffy, I was.. Just unh"

"Defending my honor, Thanks Marshall. I just dropped by to get the new assignment"

Marshall sighed contentedly and began to babble on about some sort of Nano Doohickey. Kelly left the room blushing.

Liam O' Conners POV: I.N. Headquarters Dublin

"Liam" Daniel's voice echoed down the hall. Daniel was the only one who still called me by my given Name. Everyone else had stopped thinking of me as a person long ago; they just thought of me as a spy and referred to me as such: Agent Angel. Or if they were new recruits, they would call me deputy director angel.

"What?" I said turning towards the once brown haired linguist. Daniel will always look innocent to me. Even though he's been through so much; the loss of his wife, and his daughter. He never earned the hard edge that has grown to define me.

"It's Willow" Daniel said quietly as he handed me the cell phone. I pick it up tentatively. Cell phones hate me, and the feeling is mutual. They are always cutting my off, or running out of batteries

"Hello" I said loudly into the phone.

"We have a rouge agent bar" Willow sounded panicked, and when willow panicked she made even less sense then she usually did.

"Pardon?" I asked,

"Agent Thomas wants to tell the CIA, everything. He's set up a meet at nine tonight with Buffy"

"Were," I said trying to keep the fear out of my voice. The fate of my organization (my lives sole purpose), hung in the balance.

"Macarthur's"

"The pub?"

Willow didn't dignify my question with a response; she simply hung up the phone.

"Can we stop Thomas, before he gets there?"

"No" Daniel said soberly "He took the day off"

I nodded, as a grin spread over Denial's face "Remember last time you went pubbing? With the girl, and the karaoke, and –"

I covered Daniels mouth with my hand before one of the underlings could hear. Certain tales don't need to be repeated.


	3. Mcarthurs Pub

Angel Pov: Mcarthurs Pub

I sat at the bar, waiting for agent Buffy to arrive. I had never actually met Buffy, but Willow has told me all about her. Buffy is one of the few people at the CIA that Willow loves and trusts. But weather Buffy actually deserves that trust, is up for debate.

I ordered another beer (Not that I drank the first one), and ran a hand through my platinum blond hair. Died for the occasion, I hated it even more then the temporary ear and lip rings.

I saw Thomas sitting at a table next to the picture of poker playing dogs. Thomas looked nervous. He should be, he's about to tell the I.Ns secrets (among them my identity, Willow's status as a double agent, and the I.Ns goals) to the CIA.

Then I spotted Buffy out of the corner of my eye, even though her hair is no longer blond it's ruby red. I had seen pictures of her, before but nothing looked like the real thing, and the real thing was stunning.

Snap out of it Liam, I told myself. That's the enemy you're talking about it.

Buffy approached Thomas's table, and sat down besides him. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, over the loud punk rock band.

So I walked towards them, deliberately stumbling a little, faking drunk (As if I ever had enough time to get genuinely intoxicated). I pulled out the tranquilizer needle from my pocket hiding it in my palm. I fell forward, haphazardly; one hand stopped my fall by holding the back of Thomas chair, as my other hand plunged the needle through his coat and into his skin.

"Sorry mannn" I slurred to Thomas, as I continued towards the exit. I heard Thomas's body fall forward. I turned around to look; I was just in time to see 5 foot 4 women hurling herself at me.

Buffy was fast, and her technique was perfect Legs out pointed towards my chest to inflect the most damage. Any other spy would be seriously injured by that move.

To bad I wasn't any other spy: I jumped up, and grabbed the rafters with my ring-covered hands (yet another aspect of the punk charade that I disliked).

Buffy, landed on the floor, having injured no one but herself. I dropped from the rafter's landing in a fighting stance.

Buffy had managed to stand up in the interim, and was similarly positioned. She took the offensive punching out whith her left hand, I ducked to the left, and then she threw another punch that connected with my shoulder.

While, I was still recovering from the punch she lifted her leg, in an attempt to kick me. I grabbed it, and pulled quickly, she fell gracefully to the floor. But within a second she was up again, this time in the rafters.

Turns out I'm not the only super powered spy around. I wonder if Buffy knows exactly what she is?

I jumped up to meet her, so that both of us stood on opposing beams. "Wow, a rafter's battle" Buffy said trying to throw me off guard "That's so 20th century"

"Actually it's 19th" I said feeling like a nerd the minute the words left my mouth. I'm not much for battle banter.

Buffy jumped from her beam to mine "So I guess the boy with bondage pants and bottle blond hair knows his history" With those words she ran at me fist's at the ready. I simply lay down on the beam and before she could comprehend what was happening I had grabbed her feet, and twisted. She fell, from the beam to the floor.

I Landed next to her; around me I noticed the locals exchanging money, betting on our battle. I swing out to hit her then noticed, that she had left running towards the door, which is technically the smartest thing to do in a fight, were both participants are practically dead even. I let her run.

Buffy Pov:

I was sweating; my jeans were torn, my neck was bleeding, my ribs cracked, all by one man. If I wasn't human what was he? Goliath? I ran out the door, it's not like I could gain anything from beating him, if I could beat him.

I ran down the path towards willow and the van. I never reached them, in front of me on the path there were three combat-outfitted solders. I'm a good fighter, but I'm no match for guns. I swiveled around to run back. But bondage boy's in my way.

That's when I felt a small pinprick in my upper arm, and the world began to swirl. Must have been a tranquilizer.

The last thing I remember hearing before the world faded into black was my sparring partners voice "Always bring backup"

Were Was Willow?


	4. A Prison Chat

Angel POV; I.N. Headquarters

"You captured her. Why?" Daniel asked.

"Willow said Buffy was a good person. Shouldn't we give her a chance? It's not like having one more covet agent in the C.I.A would be a bad thing."

"She's beautiful isn't she?" Daniel asked, proving once again that he knows me better then I know myself.

"You have seen the pictures," I said dodging the question, as I tried to scrub the blond out of my hair.

"What do we do if she doesn't turn? None of the agents who have questioned to her have made any headway." Daniel said, taking a sip of his coffee. Daniel is forever drinking coffee. Daniel at fifty with his graying hair, and soft almost bedside manner, was by far the best pre interrogator in the organization. But as much as I needed Buffy to open up, I was not willing to force Daniel, the kindest of men to deal with a prisoner on the anniversary of his family's death.

"Set her free" I said, why wouldn't the blond come out of my hair? Well I guess I could always die my hair black, "But I am going to talk to her first"

Daniel turned off the water in the sink "Then keep your hair blond. We can't risk her recognizing you from a publicity photo"

I had completely forgotten about my alter ego: the Irish bachelor billionaire, who had an ever-increasing amount of money, and no wife to share/steal it. Liam O' Conner was famous in one world, and Agent Angel was famous in another.

"Great' I groaned, I hated the idea of being stuck with bottle blond hair for one more second, "I will look like a punk'

"This is about the fate of the world, not appearances" Daniel as always was right.

Buffy POV

I paced in my five by ten foot, plain white cell, completely depressed.

I've, been captured, and that's not good. Correction: that's horrible, a Shakespeare worthy tragedy. To make even worse, my captors were still at the pleasantry stage of the investigation. They were asking questions without inflecting pain, which only meant it, would be a matter of time before they began interrogating me properly. Particularly since I wasn't telling anyone anything.

The outer door swung open, and my sparring partner, still in costume entered. Maybe he always dressed like that? Hopefully not, because he looked like he would be fairly handsome, without all the jewelry, and the hair. _Buffy_ I chastised myself _this arrogant egotistical cruel, man imprisoned you. This is no time to analyze his looks_.

The Man stood in front of the bars and stared at me. I guess he wasn't the talkative type.

"Hello" I said after a minute.

"Do you know why you're here?" the man asked

"Because I'm the enemy" Wow if only the answers to all question was that easy.

"Not really" the man said with a shrug.

"So you hold your friends captive?"

"Occasionally" The man said, his voice hinting at a dark beyond comprehension. That voice was more horrifying then any threat of violence could ever be. "But your here for another reason"

"To tell you all my secrets"

"If you want"

"Not really" I said trying to fiend a logical way to insert bite me into that sentence

"You are here to learn the truth"

I scoffed that would require him to talk, and from what I had seen so far that wasn't really his forte.

"You mean your version of the truth"

The man's lip moved slightly. Was he suppressing a sneer or a smile? "Why do you work for the CIA"?

"I thought it was your turn to do the talking."

"Fine" the man said with a shrug "Do you know why I help run The I.N."

He helped run this? They had really thrown out the big guns for me. "Because you're evil?"

"No. We live in a world at war. Foreign spies are everywhe ..."

I interrupted him; he was stretching my patience "Everyone knows that"

"Does everyone know that the great powers through their espionage decisions are arranging the division of the world?"

I remained silent, he must be lying. The man continued despite the fact I had not given him an answer "For example the CIA, in order to gain control of the oil, in Israel, would exchange another country for it: Canada, Italy, and South Africa. So the Soviet Union would run Canada unmonitored well the U.s. Would be in charge of Africa"

"South Africa's still free." But the other examples weren't, could he be right? The News reports had said that those countries chose to be under the Americans protection, Could the reporters be lying?

"Yes the I.N. did a good job there; we preserved the countries integrity, now we just have to do the same for Ireland."

"Ireland" I said quizzically.

"The CIA, has decided to give it to the Russians in exchange for a year long peace treaty, the whole deal is going to be ratified, two months from now on the 25th of March"

This couldn't be true, I would know about it if it were true. I worked for the CIA; I would know "You're lying,"

"Fine" the man said, this time I couldn't miss the sneer "Ignore the butchery that happens each time these countries change hands. Ignore the brutality of countries left unchecked. This was your chance for redemption, next time I won't be so kind"

His cell phone rang. And for the first time, his hardened interior crack, he looked scared for a second, and then realized, where the sound came from.

Angel POV

"Hi" I said into the phone.

Daniel's voice was on the other end, "We have to free Buffy. Now!"

"Why?"

"The CIA's getting suspicious about Buffy's disappearance"

"So? They don't know were we are or what were doing."

"Yes but there getting suspicious about Willow, asking her questions, fallowing her, tapping her phone lines. She thinks that they could take her in for questioning at any moment. If we return Buffy, they will forget about Willow for the time being"

I swore. And hung up the phone.

"Something wrong?" Buffy asked.

"No" I said preparing to leave. That's when Buffy asked a surprising question.

"What are you"?

I stopped dead in my tracks. "The same thing you are". That wasn't exactly true, but it was close enough. I didn't have enough time, to say more.

"What is that?" Didn't she know, for the first time her hard exterior cracked, and she seemed almost child like in this moment, the Warrior was stripped away from her. I couldn't comfort her now, later maybe. No I couldn't even allow myself to have that hope.

"I will tell you, when we meet again" I said as I closed the exterior cell door behind me.

Buffy POV:

I woke up in a field outside Macarthur's pub the world, spinning around me, through me. I didn't know what to do. The last thing I could remember was my white cell.

I got up the world still on a tilt, and walked into town, using a pay phone I got through to the CI.A, and Giles more specifically"

He was happy to hear from me, in till I asked to talk to willow. He was silent for a second and then he spoke. His voice course and dry" I'm so sorry Buffy. Willow was a double agent. She's been arrested for her betrayal."


	5. Truth

Buffy POV: CIA

I arrived at work late; it was office day; all paperwork and bureaucracy.

My new partner Leonard met me at the door, we had been working together for a month now, and I can honestly say that that I have never hated a human being more then I loathe Leonard, with his small glasses, and greased black hair.

"Hi Buffy"

"Hilo Leonard" I said in an equally forced voice

"Have you heard the news?" Leonard asked, a smile on his face clearly he thought the news would upset me.

I shook my head. Leonard smile grew a little wider. "Tomorrow Willow is being moved into to a high security prison. She has 20 years there without chance of parole". With that Leonard turned away from me and walked towards the boardroom. I could no longer see his face, but I knew that he was smirking.

I tried to swallow my shock, my dread, Even if Willow had betrayed the C.I.A, twenty years was too long for willow, a dreamer, my bestest friend to be imprisoned.

If willow was still all there. The stories of her interrogation had begun to drift down through the ranks: it had been brutal. Willow had been forced to reveal all the details about her role in the I.N. But she refused to talk about the others involved in the I.N.

It took them two weeks just to force willow to reveal the Code name of the head of the I.N.: Angel.

Angel, the man in bondage pants, who had challenged my loyalty. A man who had powers like me. A man who knew what my power was.

Stop thinking about Angel, I told myself, as I stomped off towards Giles office, in a last ditch effort to help Willow.

I knocked n the oak door of Giles office. No one answered so I entered and set down in one of the office chairs to wait.

And wait, an hour and fifteen minutes later, Giles had yet to return, and my patience was gone. I read all the notes in my purse; I ate my way through a box of old tic tacs.

What could I do next? And that's when the thought hit me, If Angel was telling the truth (which I doubted), the proof would be in this office, somewhere.

I stood up slowly then set back down. No I couldn't do that to the CIA, I couldn't doubt them.

But I did, I stood up again and pushed through the filing cabinet. There was a lot of information, and vital statistics about Ireland, but that was hardly incriminating.

I glanced up at the clock, as if time could tell me something. It didn't but, the calendar that was right next to the clock did. In plain sight, directly under the word march, in the box marked 25 there were the words D-DAY in huge green lettering.

My body trembled, Angel hadn't lied. Suddenly the door opened and Giles walked in. I swallowed hard then spoke, as Giles stared at me "just stopped in to ask you about willow"

Giles looked at me uneasily, then replied without suspicion "Oh yes, that . . .'

Angel: POV

I pulled the balaclava over my brown hair, put yet another gun into my bag with the explosives, and then slipped a knife into my boot.

Daniel in the drivers seat looked at me, "Are you sure you don't need back up?"

"Are you volunteering?"

"No," Daniel said seeing through my failed attempt at a joke" but we could always call in a team to help you out"

"No, everyone else is needed in Ireland. This is my mission"

Daniel nodded, as I left the van, he didn't bother wishing me good luck. He knew rat luck had nothing to do with it.

I snuck through the backdoor, using a fake key card that the I.N. techs had spent two weeks making.

I entered gun in my hand and the safety off, I pointed it at the guard station, and shot through the glass, the guard that was standing there, fell to the ground.

I ran past him, and took a left turn, sprinting towards the cellblock. Alarms started going off, they knew I was here.

The security cameras that were everywhere, were rendered useless by Daniel, and his technical know how (otherwise known as luck) had seen to that. So the guard must have set it off.

I kept running trying to ignore the alarms; Willows cell was so close now. I could make it. Then three guards emerged from a door in front of me weapon's raised nard ready to shoot.

Shit


	6. Escape

Buffy POV

"I'm here to visit Willow Rosenberg, to say goodbye." The guard heard my words, scanned my security card, nodded, and opened the exterior cell door.

I walked through it, and there was willow: sprawled, bruised and bleeding, on a white cot.

"Hi" willow said, her voice cracking, and slow.

I didn't reply. I couldn't spare any time on small talk. Instead I pulled out a small wad of what looked like gum. I pressed it against the bars and took three steps back. I had learned my lesson from last time.

The wad of plastique (who needs gum when you have explosives?) exploded. When the dust cleared the metal bars were still locked, but barely. I kicked out at the bar that was most damaged by the explosion. After three tires the bar broke.

Willow stared at me too shocked to move. I grabbed her and pulled her through the bars just as the guard entered. I Kicked the Gun out of the guard's arms and it flew through the air. I grabbed the gun before it could hit the ground and shatter. Why waste a perfectly deadly weapon?

I pointed the gun at the guard's chest, but he didn't get the message, he tried to punch me. So I killed him. I felt guilty the second the body hit the ground. But it was too late.

I propped willow up on my shoulder. "You came" she said, her eyes darkened by sadness.

"Of course, you're my best friend." I said with a small smile. This moment would have been like every clichés and melodramatic movie scene, if the walls weren't covered with blood.

We left the cell and started down the hallway, Twenty meters later I saw the backs of three guards, and beyond them Angel.

Angel POV

I ducked down as they shot at me, retaliating with my own bullets. I kept firing in till I saw all three guards fall. I stood up, and saw that I hadn't killed all three on my own. Buffy had, and now she was pointing the gun at me.

Willow was beside Buffy. Leaning beaten against Buffy's body. What was going on? Buffy's fingers moved towards the trigger. She was about to shoot me, when suddenly Willow yelled, "stop, Buffy, that's Angel. He's good."

"How can you tell? He's wearing a balaclava." Buffy said, keeping her gun trained on me.

"Because he stands like angel" willow said. "Plus no one else would iron pleats into there camo pants."

Buffy lowered the gun, I groaned, and ran towards then. Willow never failed to embarrass me.

I scooped Willow up and placed her over my shoulder, firemen style. So that my other arm could be free to fight

"Why did you change your mind?"

"I didn't change my mind" Buffy remarked indigently, "I simply reassessed the situation"

"Same thing" willow mumbled as we continued to gallop through the halls. That's when a guard appeared out of the woodwork and I gunned him down.

"Thanks" Buffy said as another guard surprised us from behind. Buffy killed him with her first shot.

"Your welcome" I said as I slowly open the door.

There is no guard waiting behind it. Only the van with Daniel in the driver's seat. I walk towards it with willow, and then I notice that Buffy isn't following us. "What's wrong?"

"It's just, that I would be more help here wouldn't I?"

I have never lied to beautiful women; I wasn't about to start now "Yes you would be."

Buffy nodded "Then I will stay here"

Willow was about to protest but I shushed her up. "Here is my contact number," I said reaching into one of my many pockets and pulling out one of my alter ego Liam O'Conner busses card.

Buffy glanced down at the guard, noticed my photograph on the front then looked back up at me. "You look like that"

I nodded and pulled of the balaclava. "When not in disguise I do"

Buffy smiled at my face, and then we both heard the footsteps of guards in the hall.

Buffy slipped back into the fort as the van with Willow, Daniel, and myself onboard, drove off.

Giles POV:

I was rudely awakened to the sound of a ringing phone. I picked it up just to hear marshal's panicked voice on the other end.

"Willow's gone, she escaped"

"Pardon" I said putting on my glasses

"Willow broke out of prison apparently by some strange man."

"Pardon" I said perhaps I needed a hearing aide as well

"Apparently Buffy came in to say goodbye and saw that willow was missing and the guards were dead"

"Do we have this on video tape?"

Marshall stammered on the other end of the line "Not exactly, although one guard caught the fleeting glimpse of a man clothed entirely in black helping willow leave"

I shook my head this was not good? "How is Buffy"?

"Fine sir, just fine"


	7. A quite Dance

Buffy POV

When Giles told me about my next mission, I was shocked, although I didn't look it. I just smiled and nodded, and took a sip of coffee. Then I went off to the bathroom, locked myself in a stall, and thought about the implications.

Angel. Liam whoever he was, had given me his business card, with the name Liam O'Conner on it. My next mission, as Giles assigned it to me, was to attend Liam O'Conner's ball and steal new technology that O'Conner's company C-Tech had created.

Which meant I would be able to see Angel again for the first time since the jail brake, two whole months earlier? Buffy I chastised myself, seeing him is not the point he's just a guy, it's the mission that mattered. Didn't it?

Angel Pov

I hated my alter ego, he was so shallow, so boring, and without him I would never had to learn the waltz.

I looked down at my dance partner, a brown eyed, orange haired Irish beauty, After this song should I waste more time on her, or move on to my other hosting duties?

Then the decision was made for me, a hand touched my back, and a tingling sensation flew up my side. I turned towards the hand's owner; it was Buffy, hair swept up in a bun, a little glitter under her eyes. She wore a beautiful blue ball gown that hugged her body as if it was sown on.

"Hello," I said as my eyes met Buffy's the other women, was forgotten, In fact for a brief second everything was forgotten, as Buffy slipped her hand into mine. Her touch on my back had been electric, but when her hand met mine it was like Russian stacking dolls, they fit perfectly within each other.

And then we danced. The music had changed; it was no longer a waltz but a tango. Our bodies moved closer with each step. I could hear her heartbeat over the orchestra; it kept time like a metronome.

I dipped her, as the song's pace sped up, she didn't know the steps at first, but she learned quickly. I had the distinct felling that if the song continued for a minute more she would be teaching me. But the final notes ended and our bodies parted.

The minute my body lost touch with hers, my mind felt cleared, almost as if a spell had been lifted, or a curse.

I took Buffy's hand but this time it won't to dance, instead I led her upstairs Daniel monitoring from a distance.

I led her into my apartment, with its tapestries and Persians carpet. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the party" Buffy said still captured by the magic downstairs. Then she caught herself and answered the question truthfully "The CIA sent me for the weapon's prototype your company made. "

"I knew they were going to send someone, I am just glad it's you" that came out wrong I don't know why it did but it did.

I went over to my desk and pulled out the plan's looked at them one last time, and handed them to Buffy. "Here, I have copies"

"But, they'll be able to use them against you"

"Yes but if you don't retrieve them, they will become suspicious. Besides these schematics are outdated, by our newer models "I looked into her eyes as I said it. They reminded me of the dance downstairs, of the violins, the candles, the glittering streamers, her hand on the small of my back, of love so long forgotten.

The last words brought me back to the present, to the facts of my rather long life.

"Angel, you said you were the same as me. You said that we were different what did you mean?"

That sentence took the romance out of everything. It even took the possibility of romance out of the future. But she asked and now that we were on the same side I had to tell her the truth.

"Were not quite the same you and I. But we are similar."

Buffy nod's and the light from the desk lamp gives her a halo in this room of darkness "I don't know when I was born, or created, it could have been a millennia ago or a century, you see my memories start about 75 years ago, but I was already 26 then. I had no memory I woke up one day naked in the forest with no memories, and a tattoo. At first I tried to find out who I was. Then I gave up. I didn't know that I had powers then, and there didn't seem to be any other options."

"You just thought you were normal" Buffy's mouth said, but I could tell that she was thinking about my age. How I was probably the oldest person she had ever met. Hell I was almost as old as this castle, I might even be older.

"So I married a beautiful woman, named Stella. We even had a child: Samantha. But slowly it became evident that I wasn't quite right. I was shot through the heart, and I healed. I was stronger then anyone else, all sorts of things. Stella just ignored these hint's, others barley noticed them at all. Until they grew older, and I stayed the same."

"What happened?" Buffy's tone was breathless her eyes curios to her this was just a fairytale.

"Once the rumors started, we moved. To Stella's credit she dealt with it, at first, but then on her sixtieth birthday it became too much, and I woke up in an empty bed"

Buffy's Pov

"And Stephanie?" I asked

Angel smiled a new smile that twisted all the skin around his mouth. It was a smile of devotion. There was no doubt that he loved his daughter. I admired that "Beth grew up; married a man named Daniel, and had her own child. Beth always stayed with me she was my conscious"

"Is she dead?" I whispered my life felt as if it depended on the answer

"Yes" the way he said it reflected the time he had lived.

"How"

"A ma.." a knock on the door stopped his sentence short. Then the door opened and a grey haired man burst through.

"Leonard's downstairs "The man said his tone calm, and measured. My Partner was here? Checking up on me?

"We have to go" I said and pulled Liam out of the room by the hand. Hours seemed to have passed in the room. Daniel stayed there, as angel and I started down the stairs.

"What will you tell your superiors?" Angel asked, only his eyes were lit, everything else was a shadow.

I kept walking; we were half way down the stairs when I answered his question, not with words but with a kiss.


	8. An envolope, A fight, and A blind Date

Buffy POV:

Our lips parted, it was only a second, a shimmer of a moment that defied time. Then I left turning towards Leonard, with his lizard breath, I crossed the dance floor well aware that all eyes were on me. The women who had dared to kiss the host.

I blushed slightly. It wasn't even as if it was a real kiss. It was just another alias, part of the disguise; so that Leonard wouldn't suspect that anything was going on.

But it felt real, it almost felt better then that.

Why was Leonard here? He was supposed to wait for me out in the car and be my getaway driver. This was not waiting in the car; this was interrupting an important mission. Was it just another one of Leonard's daily mess-ups or was it something more?

I reached Lenard, and he grabbed my hands. As if we were a couple, how dare he?

"The KGB are after the weapons plan" Leonard said in a whisper

How were we going to get out?

Leaving the castle was easy enough, there were others exiting with us, and we were just two people in a crowd. The valet brought the car around. A nice jaguar, sleek and beautiful, but not really the racing type.

I pushed Leonard out of the driver's seat, and gunned the motor.

"Where is the KGB?" I asked Leonard as I shifted gears (why Leonard always demanded stick shift was beyond me).

"At the gatehouse"

"Damn"

"Are they stopping cars?"

"Yes what did you think they were doing? Making sure that the guests buckle up?"

I ignored Leonard as we approached the gatehouse. "Why are they here?"

"Apparently someone tipped them off to C-Tech's new weapons plan. And instead of seizing it subtly, they divided to take it by force. You do have it don't you?"

"Of course" At that instant a guard stepped into the road, his hand a makeshift stop sign. I obeyed the hand and stopped the car.

"Get out" the guard yelled in English Leonard and I both complied.

"Who are you?" the guard said, his English was shaky. My Russian was far better, but I didn't want him to know that.

"Alexia Binadel, and this is my manservant Leonard"

The guard nodded. Then bellowed the names into his walkie-talkie, as another guard joined him. And waited, while he waited, he checked out my ample cleavage.

Then a voice came through the walkie-talkie, "Their not on the guest list". The words were in Russian, and any other couple of Americans would have stood around obviously waiting to be shot as the guards turned towards them gun ready.

But we weren't what he thought we would be. Leonard was on the ground cowering, and I was over to the right. I kicked my leg out and caught him full in the chest, he fell easily.

The second guard actually had some training with his muscle so he had me in a vice grip quickly. It was hard to get out of that hold; I couldn't possibly flip a man over my shoulders that were a hundred pounds heavier then myself. So instead I pushed backwards he fell quickly thrown off kilter by the move. That's when Leonard shot him.

The gun was silenced, and with the second shot Leonard took out the walkie-talkie. Even though he could have just turned it off too Leonard shooting seemed like the melodramatic thing to do.

I ran towards the guard's house to open the gate.

Once I was in the guard's house I noticed a manila envelope, with the word important scrawled down over the front in red pen. In Russian of course. I grabbed the envelope and stuffed it down the front of my dress.

Leonard honked the horn and I was reminded, of the important part. So I hit a switch, it didn't open the gate; instead it was alarm of some sort that squealed loudly, like a stuck pig.

I hit another button and had better luck, the gate swing open. But I could see car light's driving towards, us. The backup.

I dived back into the car and drove through the now empty gates.

L.A. Two day's later:

I had phoned my I.N. handler two days earlier, from a public phone, and set up a meet. If anyone asked I just said that it was just a blind date at a coffee shop. But truthfully it was the ideal opportunity to slip my handler; Wesley, the manila envelope.

I set down at the table skim milk moccacino with extra whipped cream in hand and Wesley set next to me.

"It's kind of awkward isn't it" I said. Wesley just looked at me quizzically "I mean pretending to be on a blind date."

Wesley smiled. Even his smile was very British. "Yes it is, my wife always teases me about my dates"

I was surprised that anyone had married, him and I imagined a dowdy Irish women as his wife "what's your wife's name?"

"That's only something I tell women on the second date"

I laughed at that in spite of myself, Wesley made jokes? Wesley soon forgot that he made jokes and got series "What is your news?"

I slipped a piece of paper under the table and he picked it up, and looked down at, it well he continued to talk.

"So, I heard about your kiss"

"Oh that" I knew what he meant "that was just a cover". Wesley didn't react to my denial.

"Hmmm" Wesley said as he read the contents of the envelope. He kept the shock off his face but I knew it was there. It's impossible to read that kind of news without reacting.

The contents of the envelope detailed plans for planning covert agents in Ireland to secretly fight the CIA. The Soviet Union finally wanted to start a proper war.

Wesley looked up after covertly reading the notes. He had a smile on his face but under the table his hands were shacking.

"Our mutual friend is coming into town tomorrow. He will want to see this. Meet us at the pan pacific hotel, Premier suite tomorrow at six pm."

Our mutual friend? Who might that be? Then it hit me Liam. Tomorrow I would be able to learn my secret.


	9. Another Hotel

Angels POV:

I exited the airport, and got into a limo, just another anonymous billionaire going about his daily business. As Liam O'Conner the head of C-Tech, I was a powerful man, but I wasn't a threat.

Daniel posing as my servant, put away my bags in the back of the truck, then got in next to my chauffeur, the multi talented Wesley. We pulled away from the airport and on to the highway as we swept for bugs. Daniel took the front, I took the back. We had cleared the limo within minutes.

"Buffy said that the kiss was just an act," Wesley stated

Buffy thought that was an act? It certainly didn't seem that way to me. When we kissed my heart almost stopped, that hadn't happened in years. Or to be perfectly honest that hadn't happened ever. While that I remembered anyways.

"I didn't believe her for a second" Wesley said with a nod.

"As if you would know"

"I'm married. Married men know these things."

"Really, so you know that today is your third wedding anniversary?"

"Ye…shit"

Daniel chuckled in the front seat, as I tossed a brown box towards the front. Daniel caught it easily and handed it to Wesley. Wesley opened it up at the next stoplight.

"It's a key?" Wesley was confused.

"To a house" I said "At Carmel. Happy anniversary"

"Thanks, but really about Buffy. . ."

"Romance for me is irrelevant. More important of course is the mission."

Daniel sighed. All he heard about was the mission. But it's not like I would actually tell him that I couldn't stop thinking, about Buffy. Sometimes I couldn't even admit that to myself.

I continued "We might have an open war on our hands soon. We have to fortify Ireland before that. This afternoon I will have to steal the CIA's computer codes so I can get access to all their files. Faith should help"

"Oh yes, about that" I could tell instinctively that Wesley had a smile on his face. That did not bode well for me.

"What is it?" I growled.

"I thought you should get the details of the war from our source: Buffy, she should also be able to help you on the mission." Wesley parked the car in front of the hotel. Got out and opened my door.

"When will I see Buffy?"

"It depends"

"On what?"

"Weather you take the elevator or the stairs. She is up in your suite right now"

Buffy POV:

He entered shining in a black suit. Damn. Why did he have to wear a suit he's probably look worse in overalls. No he would look good in anything.

I noticed that the older gray haired man stood guard outside. He looked strong but not bodyguard strong. Who was he?

"Hi" Liam said he bit his lip when he said it.

I handed him the manila envelope that I stole.

He opened it up but I wasn't patient enough to wait. Instead I interrupted him.

"What about Stephanie?"

"Stephanie and her child, my grandchild were killed ten years ago. Only her husband survived"

"Who killed her?"

Liam winced "The CIA"

I shivered even though it was a summer day in LA. "Why?"

"It's a long story"

"But I need to hear it. I have a sneaking suspicion it's my story too."

Angel nodded, and motioned for me to sit. I obeyed plopping down in an enormous black leather overstuffed chair.

Angel who set down across from me started to speck. His tone darker then usual. There was no doubting, what he said. "The government found out about me by accident. I was struck by lightning and I walked away from it. It wasn't a big deal. It has happened to me before. But never in a crowd of witness, all who were more then willing to share their experiences with the government."

Angel sighed then continued with the story proper. "The government did a background check, they saw the string of homes, and a series of odd tails, and they begin testing me. Secretly of course. Then the CIA recruited me. At first it was fine, and I was happy. Stephanie was still growing and I needed the money to support her. But then some investments made me a wealthy man. And I asked to quit."

"And" This was better then the movies.

"Obviously they said no, and then they said yes. But only if I did one last thing for them. Donate my DNA. I said no I didn't wish this nomadic existence on anyone else"

My breath grew shallow, as Liam contented his voice rolling over me live waves breaking on coral.

"They didn't take no for an answer. But they couldn't take me by force, either I was too strong. So they tried to motivate me by holding my family hostage. So I donated the DNA, and the blood, and let them poke around inside my body for details. When they let me wake up a year later. I asked to see my family. They asked me to continue working instead, and when I said no. They killed my family."

I was shocked.

"You probably already guessed this. But you were one of the human test subjects that were altered using, my DNA, and the findings the CIA made using my body."

"I don't remember anything about the experiments" I was sitting next to him on the couch now. I did not remember moving, but obviously I needed to. I couldn't believe that I was just another experiment

"You wouldn't remember the experiments. They happened when you were a child, and then would have been erased from your memory."

"So I am what you are . . . artificial," I said. My throat felt dry but before I could ask for some water. Liam handed me a glass. I could tell by the way his hand trembled in the light, that he was worried. But about what? That I would blame him for what happened?

Liam swallowed then replied, "Yes. Although we're not exactly the same. You have all of my powers, except you will age. You have aged."

"Wait, so I get everything accept every women's dream"

Liam's winced, and I was reminded once more of his lips.

"You don't want that part. With age comes…" there was a knock on the door. Liam went to answer it, and in came our constant interrupter, the gray haired man.

"Liam you have to go on your mission now"

Liam nodded sadly then got ready to leave.

"Do you need help?" I volunteered


	10. Snatch

Buffy POV

"Faith" Liam growled, as a brunette joined us in the sewer tunnel.

Faith had a huge smile and a tank top on. The tank top made her look younger then she was. But the smile wasn't a happy one. It was the classic villains smile with a bit of punk thrown in for good measure.

"Hey" she said to Liam then she turned towards me. "I'm Faith, and you are?

"Buffy" I said extending a hand, which she ignored.

"The girlfriend" she said in a voice that only spoke about sex without mentioning the nuances.

"No" I said trying to sound indigent rather then pleased.

Liam shut her up, with an evil smirk. I had yet to learn how he earned that smirk, and I had a feeling that I might never know why.

Then Liam pulled the black balaclava down over his face, Faith did the same and I reluctantly followed suite. Then Liam grabbed at a hook above his head and pulled. Quickly sidestepping the trapdoor and rope ladder that swung down.

Faith climbed up the stairs first, weapon out. Angel and I followed her. We moved through the seemingly normal, underground bunker silently. Always heading towards room 815.

I still felt manipulated by the CIA, but I pushed it aside, because of the mission, because of Liam, and most importantly, because we were under attack.

The first guard Angel dispensed with easily. So easily in fact that it scared me.

Then a second guard aimed his gun at faith and pulled the trigger. She dodged it easily, by kneeling down then rolling towards the guard. The guard tired to adjust his aim, but it was too late.

Faith grabbed the gun, tore it out off his hands, flipped it around and then shot the guard. Her movements although more aggressive, then my own, were similarly strong. She must be altered by Liam's DNA as well.

The third guard interrupted my train of thought by grabbing my neck. I bent down and flipped him over my shoulders, his black cracked as he landed solidly on the ground.

Faith turned toward me, a childish grin on her face "So your one of his clones too?"

Three hours earlier I wouldn't have know what she meant but now I felt as if I'd always known.

I nodded as we moved towards room 815. The lock we easily opened with a credit card. I entered first, and there in the middle of the room there was a huge safe. And by huge I mean 8 feet by eight feet,

I swore. Faith stared, and Angel crossed over to it, and pressed his ear against the vault door, and begins to slowly move the lock.

"What's he doing?" I whispered to faith

"What do you think"?

Wow, she was rude "I meant how?"

"Oh that, I don't know" she whispered back.

"Super hearing" Liam replied.

"Ohh" we both said, as Liam opened the safe.

"Well at least we weren't talking about anything embarrassing" Faith said, as Liam removed the files.

As we were leaving room 815 that's when another shot rang out. Liam instinctively ran towards the shots. Then Faith stopped him. "Let me handle them"

"No"

"Please" she whined, "I need my exercise"

Liam sighed and headed toward the main door and I followed him down the dark hallway.

Liam opened the door; his hand brushed my shoulder, as I passed him. In spite of the danger or perhaps because of it I had to stop. If he had asked me, why I had stopped, I would have claimed that I was waiting for faith. But he didn't ask. Instead he bent down and kissed me

Warm and deep, better then the first one, because this time there was no false pretences. This had nothing to do with the damn mission it existed in spite of it. The more we kissed the better I felt, it wasn't like normal kisses ether, saying that would be like comparing Hershey and Godiva.

Then interrupting the perfect kiss, a bullet whizzed past, the small of my back and I was reminded of the mission. We broke the kiss and dropped to the ground to avoid further bullets.

Thank goodness we did, because seconds later, Faith sailed over our bodies, landed on her feet and kept running.

Liam and I, stayed close, to the ground as we ran, hunched over into the woods.

We ran for five minutes, in till we caught up with Faith. Who grabbed my arm and pulled me to the left. Liam instinctively follows and faith led us to an unmarked van.

As we approached I was shocked to discover that Wesley was sitting on the drivers seat. Faith however treated it as if it were an every day occurrence.

Then Faith leaned over and kissed him. I gasped, but Angel didn't react. Then their kiss suddenly took a French turn. And Angel turned me away from their immature make out session.

"They think they can get away with anything now that there married"

One of the two kissers, managed to utter a word in spite of the kiss "three"

Angel with a smug look on his face translated for me "Or rather now that they have been married for three years they can"

I couldn't help but grin, I was astonished that my serious conservative handler was married to Faith.


	11. Doubts

A huge enormous Thank You to all my reviewers: IcequeenK8, sam, Living2Love, Caladriel, crystalix, radhika (double thanks), Nina(I suprised you? wow!), WarmTea, SlayerChic503, Emerald Sorceress, Beramoon. Thank You Emerald Sorceress, and crystalix, for volunteering to be my Beta (It's a very scary job but someone has to do it), Beramoon volunteered first, thus saving you both from hours of editing. Caladriel, thank you so much, I probably never would have noticed.

This chapter is dedicated to the tireless, the brillant, the helpful Beramoon. My Beta, who not only corrected this chapter but all others.

* * *

**Buffy POV**

Twenty minutes later Wesley dropped Angel and me off at the hotel parking lot, wear we were met by the gravy haired man driving Liam's limo.

"Daniel" Liam said. We retrieved the files."

"Brilliant" Daniel replied, casually as if Liam was talking about the new suit he picked up at brooks brothers, not a file he risked his life for. Liam climbed into the limo, and I slid into the seat next to him.

"Hello Buffy" Daniel (Formally known as gray haired interrupty guy) said.

"Hi" I replied. It sounded stupid I know, but I couldn't think of a better thing to say. I have never prided myself on long conversations.

"I can drop you off near your apartment on the way back from the airport" Daniel carried on nicely, ignoring my stupidity. I nodded, and then looked over at Liam who had popped the file into his computer, and was now busy swearing at the screen.

"What?" Maybe I could help.

"The code is in code"

"There does my weekend" Daniel said hitting the handlebars.

"He and willow are the I.N'S chief code breakers." Liam explained to me.

"How is willow?" Wow I just kept on getting stupider and stupider. If stupider was even a word? Liam's kiss certainly had messed up my thought process.

"Fine" The minute Liam said that I couldn't stop thinking about his lips. Even though he continued talking I didn't really hear him, I was more focused on the way his gorgeous lips moved to sound out those words.

The second his lips stopped moving, I pounced. In all reality, Liam should have been shocked, but his lips certainly pressed readily against mine, his hands shifting the laptop out of the way and pulling me onto his lap. Why didn't I do this earlier?

This time we were interrupted by the car stopping, fifteen minutes later, in front of LAX.

Liam got out, reluctantly, and grabbed his suitcases from the trunk. Then he popped his head back through the widow and said to me "Next time I promise a real date."

Then he left and we drove away. Now that Liam was gone I directed my attention to Daniel (or tried) "So you're a code breaker?"

"Among other things"

"One of them being Liam's best friend?" Daniel confirmed my hunch by nodding "So what are you beside that?"

"Well technically I am not a chauffer but I'm playing one today" I smiled Daniel's mellow tone immediately put me at ease.

"I am also a linguist, co-chair of the I.N, and Liam's son in law"

Those words reminded me of Liam's age. How much older he was then me. Two weeks ago, I had mentally called Daniel old man even though I was in love (no, no, in lust) with a much older one.

We drove the rest of the way to my apartment in silence; as I let the implications of what I had learned tonight sink in.

Liam was immortal (his son in law was older then I). The CIA had created part of me. I was like a machine or a clone, I wasn't entirely myself. And I couldn't help but feel awkward, and mad. Not at Liam specifically, but life in general.

I got out of the car silently, Daniel knew something was bothering me, but he was too polite to probe. I climbed the stairs to my apartment in silence opened the door, poured myself a glass of wine, turned on the radio. Sighing I turned it off as a mushy song came on, only adding to my irritation.

I turned to the TV, but that didn't help either. I started running the bath, but halfway through I lost interest. Nothing was working. It was like being in pain. I could think of nothing but my own back story and Liam's role in it.

I looked at my self in the mirror. Trying to see what was wrong. If there was some sort of clue to the experiment's on my body.

There were none, so I went back to thinking. How mad I was at the CIA, at everyone. I began to write down words slowly at first. Then quicker: my fears, my hatred, spilled on to the lined paper. I wrote for hours. Exhausted by the emotion in it, I managed to stamp the letter and put it in the mail before I could really comprehend exactly what I had done.

**Daniel POV: A week later**

Willow typed as I read the code out loud. We had managed to break down the structure of the code (after hours of swearing, and consuming a toxic amount of junk food, including to my horror one deep fried Mar's bar). But we had yet to put it back together properly, now it was just a matter of trial and error. Utter emphases on the error.

We had to breack the code in order to read the file. And we have to read the file. In it are the CIA's six mounth plan's. If they know about Buffy, the information would be in there. If they knew about the KGB'S to start an open war. It would be in there to, as well as what they planned to do about both 'problems'.

Liam was supposed to help us with the decoding, but for the last three days he had been moodier then usual which was saying something. It was the letter that did it. The letter that Liam thought I didn't know about.

The letter from Buffy. I had read the first few lines, nothing more, but I knew what it was about, his age. Their mutual back-story, the fact that her parents had betrayed her, turned her over to the CIA and let her be a human guinea pig.

I knew that Angle's story would cause a rift between them, and I was surprised by the delay. Angel was too; it lulled him into believing that she could deal.

No one could that quickly, give it time, I thought as I typed, give it time. And all of a sudden the solution was in front of me. No not the solution to Liam's love predicament, (I'm not a miracle worker) but the solution to the code.

I typed it in, and the documents unscrambled themselves before my very eyes, Willow heard my exited murmuring and ran over. A big grin on her face, the grin vanished the moment she began to read.

I called Liam into the room, if his mood was classified as gloomy before, it was down right grim after he read the Files.

"Evacuate all but are primary sources. Now." He barked.

I nodded. Tomorrow was the day when Ireland would take on the rest of the world.

Next Chapter: Our Hero's are reunited (I hope)

Please Review


	12. Escape From LA

Thank You: Beramoon, IceQueenK8, Caladriel, Nina (So you can analize brillently as well as predict), chrystalix(I'm glad someone likes Daniel, I "borrowed" him from stargate SG:1), ka-mia2286. Also an extra thanks to the Indispensable BeraMoon, my Bata, my reviewer, who lent me the brillent last line of this chapter. 

Buffy POV:

I tried to blame Liam for this mess. I tried to get over him, over his lips, his kindness. . . Because he was too old to me. _Forget_ I kept on telling myself _forget_

Then yesterday a postcard from Liam mysteriously appeared on my desk. It only had three words on it: Sorry my love.

I had cried yesterday, but today was not a day for tears. Instead I tried to stay busy, typing out my latest missions' report (which is about ten times less interesting then it sounds), when my door burst open.

The person who opened the door wasn't the ever-annoying Leonard, or even Giles it was "Faith?" How did she get here?

"The one and only" she said pulling me up from behind my desk.

"What are you doing here? Are you a double agent too?"

"Noooo" she drawled her face showing strong dislike. "That would be too boring for me. Besides as of right now you are no longer a double"

"What?" Was she kidding? Or have I again fallen asleep at my desk?

"We have to go now"

"Again. What?"

"Wesley didn't phone you?" Faith's face creased with confusion.

Right then, on cue the phone rang. I began to reach for it, faith stopped me, her hand closing over mine as it reached for the receiver. "Don't bother. Grab your stuff and follow me"

Faith is not the kind of person you can ignore, so I obeyed. She pulled me out in to the hall, and then in a move that surprised me even further, instead of heading towards the main exit, she jumped out of the window.

I went to the widow and looked out, only to discover that a van was parked directly underneath the window. So I jumped on to that and then on to the ground. Faith was already in the driver's seat.

Even before I had time to shut the door. Faith was driving out of the lot. "So here's the breakdown. The U.S.A. is planning to officially declare war on the Soviet Union. All international airports are closing in about oh, an hour and a half. To prevent the en masse movement of American residents to neutral countries and to stop known spies within America from getting out."

"Wait, open War? I thought the Soviet Union was going to declare that"

"The Americans are going to beat him to it" Faith grinned sardonically at the road, her hands closing tighter on the wheel.

"Shit" Ok, so that word didn't exactly cover exactly what I was feeling, but I figured a long reel of swear words would only make me happy. It wouldn't fix anything.

"Exactly" Faith murmured, obviously agreeing with my comment.

"So why do we have to get to the airport before it closes?"

Faith looked at me as if I was insane, "If they're closed we can not get to Ireland"

"Wait we are going to Ireland?" Woah, there was some unexpected news.

"Yep. Angel is going to need a lot of help, if he wants to keep Ireland free. Besides if were caught on American soil will be torture till we spill." Faith shrugged as if going to Ireland was the most natural thing in the world. Under normal circumstances I would have agreed with her.

I shivered Faith was always overly graphic with her information. Faith screeched the van to a halt threw out three bags that she had apparently stolen from my house, as well as one that presumably held her supplies. Wesley approached us at a run, a small silver suitcase in one hand and passports in the other. He handed me mine. Fake of course.

It was only then when the importance of everything affected me. I was leaving my home forever, and I was going to see Liam.

Buffy POV: The Next Day

I woke up slowly my vision blurred slightly, I was tired with a capital T. Hell, make all the letters capital's.

I padded along the thick carpet of the bathroom, and washed my face with cold water, trying to shake the cobwebs out of my head with little success – there were a lot of them. Too many of them to count. I looked at myself in the mirror; my eyes were puffy.

I opened up the cupboard to get makeup to help fix up that not so little problem. Only to discover that I had a bigger one.

This wasn't my Bathroom. It wasn't even a women's bathroom whose was it? Had I slept with someone?

Then the events of the previous day flooded back to me. I had left L.A. just before the airport's closed, and Liam had met, faith Wesley and me at the airport. With a smile and some roses let me add. It was the beginning of a war, and he was giving me roses. I had smiled all the way to the base I couldn't stop.

Then I crashed, exhausted by the plane ride, and the fact that my old life had now officially ended. I had fallen asleep in Angel's arms (it was very comfortable), and he must have moved me here.

I left the bathroom to get a better look at what exactly here was.

It was a large room with a wooden four-poster bed, lots of textures, piles of Persian carpets, perfect except for the absence of windows. This must be Liam's room I thought. Not the one in the castle, but his one at I.N. headquarters.

I flipped through one of the books then got dressed, and decided to venture out into the corridor.

It was a good thing I had gotten dressed the hallway was packed with people; I wondered aimlessly for a few seconds when suddenly I was hugged from behind, I turned around to find myself starring at willow.

I hugged her back, and we started talking, and couldn't stop. Then I asked casually were Liam was.

"He's in the command room." She replied as if it were common knowledge.

I smiled at the thought of seeing him again, and then suppressed it. Remember Buffy He's old, not like Inca old, but old.

Willow helped cool me down as well "Buffy just a word of warning. When Angel's working, nothing stops him, so don't be surprised if he only say's Hi"

I nodded.

And entered the room, it was large and white, the opposite of Liam's room. And a lot more crowded, there were about thirty desks in there and fifty people occupying them. But Liam stood up above the rest.

He was working on a chalk board up near the front. Some sort of code, or a hangman game? I couldn't tell.

I walked to him, and tapped his back gently. He turned around quickly chalk in hand.

"Hi" he said. His voice crisp, almost mechanical, not the kind of voice that murmurs love in the middle of the night when everything goes wrong. I doubt it would even be a voice that would murmur like.

Liam turned back towards the board, and my whole body shivered. What was wrong? Then I remembered the last letter, I had sent him, was full of questions. Angry questions.

I hadn't retuned his letter. I just stood there, for what seemed like a minute. It must have been longer, because Liam handed me a piece of chalk.

"If you're going to just stand there, you might as well help out."

I took the chalk he offered and scribbled three words in the corner of the Board.

_Sorry My Love_

Before the word love was even finished, Liam's lips were pressed against mine, his arms greedily pulling me tight against him, the piece of chalk he had moments earlier clutched, falling carelessly to the ground.

It suddenly clicked. We were pieces of the same puzzle. Ying and Yang, Light and Dark. We were made for each other. Now to make him see that.

Review Please 


	13. A first Date

Authors Note: Wow, I now have a 107 reviews, and to think my dream, was to reach 50. But i wouldn't have even got that far without you, my brilliant reviewers: Regan (my hundredth reviewer), ka-mia2286 (you have reviewed my work since the beginning thanks), buffynangelforever, Beramoon (no matter how much I thank you it is never enough), ellie C. (a preview just for you), jennie, Carol, Crystalix, nina (l.o.l. your review made my exam filled day) Moonjava, and WarmTea,

Also a huge enormous "Thank You" to the wonderful BeraMoon, for beta-ing, adding, and commenting, without her, you would all be reading gibberish

Buffy POV: A mounth later

I leapt to the left, a bullet grazing my arm, as I landed next to Faith in the brush. Before I could catch my breath Faith handed me a gun. I had lost mine a few minutes earlier, in a particularly brutal dog fight.

I grabbed the gun (my shoulder wasn't grazed to badly) and turned over. Moving forward slowly amongst the undergrowth. Firing as I went, Faith was besides me. This was routine now. Just another day on the battlefield's. It was amazing how fast my life had changed, and how easily I had settled into the routine.

Thankfully I also had other more enjoyable routine now, such as kissing my boyfriend. Not that we had had the chance to date or anything, this was wartime after all. Dinner and a movie were out of the question. But even a war couldn't stop us from talking, and kissing. Actually I am fairly sure that nothing could stop us from kissing, that and I'd like to see something try.

I could see the guard now, the one shooting at us. I stopped moving for a second, aimed and fired. The man fell to the ground.

Just to be replaced by another guard. Faith took out that one, and I turned away, not wanting to see another person die. I heard Faith get up beside me, and like always, I followed her lead. Together we ran to the guards post, past the guard's bodies and inside.

Needless to say we locked the door, "Do you think they made it into the castle yet?" faith asked.

By 'they' Faith was referring, to Liam, and Wesley, who were leading a much larger team around the front of the Castle.

"I will check" I said, and fished through my camo pants for the two-way radio I had been handed before leaving. But when I finally found it, the protective casing, was shattered into a million pieces. I tried to turn it on, but it didn't work.

Faith reached for her own, radio only to discover that the pouch was empty. "Shit" she swore, lashing out at the wall beside her, leaving a nice fist shaped hole.

I agreed but didn't say so "What do we do now?"

"We wait." Faith said slowly, she hated waiting, so did I. But we sat down anyways, in the guard house, guns still out and ready.

This was a routine now, just part of life during wartime. Ireland was very much at war, with the CIA, and the Soviet Union. Not that most of the world knew it. They knew that there was a war going on, they just didn't know that it was coming to a head in Ireland, the world was too busy watching the skirmishes in the United States, Britain, and Russia to give us aid.

Liam wanted to change all that, he just didn't know how. Until then though, we were slowly taking back Ireland for the people. Taking Ireland back included conquring this castle, which was currently in the Soviet Union's possession.

Faith moved in her seat nervously, shuffling back and forth. I was impatient too. Suddenly I saw something moving in the woods, I nudged Faith.

She followed my gaze to the wood's and readied her aim, then the person started to wave, with all five fingers, and a flash of gold on his ring finger.

Faith gave a sigh of relief and lowered her weapon. "It's Wesley".

And it was. So I too lowered my weapon. Wesley greeted his wife with a kiss, I blushed. I still wasn't used to there frequent public display of affections.

"Where were you? We have been in the castle for almost an hour now" Wesley said. He was frowning deeply; it kinda made me feel guilty for making him worry.

"Isn't it obvious we were getting our nails done" faith replied sarcastically.

"Your radio's broke again didn't they?" Wesley said glibly.

"Of Course" Faith replied, smiling slightly. He obviously knew her too well.

I nodded as Wesley led us to the castle.

"Where is Liam?" I asked as we entered the great hall.

"Up stairs. Third floor"

I nodded, and left, passing a smiling Daniel as I left the room. I walked upstairs quickly; glad to be inside the warm castle, most of Ireland was currently without heat and power because of the war.

I arrived on the third floor, the walls were bare, no tapestries, not anymore, they were probably pillaged by the soviets early on. I looked into the rooms as I passed them. Searching for Liam, but only seeing empty rooms and makeshift offices.

There was one last room waiting behind a closed door, I opened the door, and was surprised to find what greeted me.

The room was beautiful, tapestry filled and candle lit. Lilly petals were scattered all over the floor.

"Sorry I couldn't Find roses" Liam said stepping out of the shadows and into the middle of the room.

I was smiling broadly, by this point "What is all this about?"

"I thought we could finally have a date. See flower's" Liam said handing me some beautiful yellow tulips. "Dinner" This time he gestured towards the table, were true to his word, a beautiful, albeit simple feast of pasta, was spread out. "Even a movie." This time my eyes followed his to a big screen TV.

After the feast, dessert, and some kissing (of course). We began to watch the movie. I curled up in his arms as I watched Luke being captured by some sort of yeti.

Everything felt perfect, as the credits; began to go down, I turned back towards Liam's face; our cheeks were cheek to cheek. Tonight had been perfect. What had inspired it?

That thought sent a shiver up my spine. Something was wrong. What though?

"Liam", I said, turning towards him.

"What?" he asked a heart melting smile on his face.

"What is bothering you?"

The smile hardened "Nothing" he replied. Liam's a good actor, but he isn't that good.

"You're lying" I whispered gently. There was no need to aggravate him further by throwing wild accusations around.

Liam hesitated then replied "I am going on live television tomorrow, broadcasted world wide, to tell the world about what is happening here. To tell them about the I.N. To tell them everything"

Inexplicably my arm began to tremble "But if you go public, everyone will find out what you really are. You'll be under more public scrutiny then anyone else in the world"

Liam nodded; he knew the risk "At first I will be. . . But slowly the media attention will fade. Then we can be together"

I baulked "what"

"I can deal with the scrutiny, you shouldn't have to. You have already sacrificed so much for a country, that isn't even your own"

"So you're breaking up with me?" I asked, eyes brimming with tears.

"No, No. Breaking up implies that this is something I want to do. It isn't. It is something I have to do, to help you" I was crying now, I don't normally show any signs of weakness but now I couldn't help it. I left the room Liam, tried to stop but he couldn't. I was already gone.

Next Chapter/ The Last Chapter (maybe): Liam goes on live TV, and announces two thing's to the world, one you already know, the other should surprise everyone, particularly Buffy.

Review Please


	14. The First Day

Thank You Kastia, Beramoon, Aranel Abeille (You are indeed correct, this topic had been adressed befor in authors notes, that were removed when I reposted), Crystalix, Nina (your psycic powers returned), Regan, Ka-mia2286, And WarmTea. Please If you read and enjoy, do review. Otherwise I have no idea how many people are actully reading this thing.

Extra thanks to my wonderfull Beta BeraMoon, for adding a very Buffy last line (and editing of course).

Angel POV:

I woke up early, the sky a stereotypical grey. I brushed my teeth, took a shower, and reluctantly pulled on my best suit.

Daniel, Wesley, and Faith met me at the car. I had already told Daniel what had happened between Buffy and I, it seems I couldn't keep anything from him, I guess knowing him for so long was a kind of disadvantage. Daniel had presumably passed the message on to Wesley, and Faith. Still no one dared to comment on the state of affairs. I'm guessing the permanent scowl on my face was an indication I wasn't in the mood for jokes.

I got in the jeep silently, and we drove off, on the first day of the rest of my life (however long it ended up being). We arrived an hour later (at the studios of a large Dublin TV station), thankfully, without incident.

We got out of the jeep, and entered the studio. The head of the studio a ruthless bureaucrat, named Alexander Maxwell, was an old friend of Liam O'Conner (i.e.: me). Needles to say he was shocked by my presence. Alexander was expecting the head of the I.N. not, his old friend the permanent bachelor.

"What are you doing here?"

Wesley fielded the question for me "This is the director of the In, Liam O'conn. . ."

"I know him" Alexander interrupted, shaking his head "but as a bad golf player, not as the director of the IN. Why are you doing this, Liam?"

"Well I had to do something in my spare time" I said, with a casualness that I did not feel. There was a knife between the words, Alexander saw that and it scared him.

Alexander tried not to show his fear "So are you ready to go on TV? We have News reporters from every country on earth here. Just for you." He smiled slightly at the last part, as if that was supposed to make me feel better.

I nodded coldly, Alexander tried to brighten his smile but he couldn't, so he just led us to the camera room. "Wait here" He muttered, turning to the closed door.

I nodded, as he entered the room full of news cameras, and reporters, who he calmly addressed. "Welcome, everyone, we have called you here today, so that you can fully resize the impact, this war has had on Ireland. Even in the last few days you have seen the damage the war has wrought on Ireland." Throughout the room reporters nodded in agreement.

Alexander continued "And we are currently in the safest area of the country. To tell you more about the effects World War Three is having on neutral countries, is the director of the International Nomads, The International Nomads is an espionage group, affiliated with all the persecuted countries in the world: South Africa, Canada and now Ireland. For the first the director is stepping out of hiding, in order to inform the world about the truth behind World War Three."

That was my cue, and I entered the room "My Name is Liam O'Conner, some know me as the president of C-Tech, although that is only a small side project. I started The I.N. to help all countries, whose sovereignty was undermined or threatened by the CIA, and the Soviet Union"

There was a collective gasp from the crowd, as they realized the implications of this revelation. I paused for a second, then brought out the slides, the exhibits, and my eye witness (Faith and Wesley of course). I felt naked up there in front of so many gaping people. But this needed to be done

After speaking for over an hour, I asked if anyone had any questions, not looking forward to answering any tricky ones.

"Where did you get the information on the CIA?" one journalist asked

I gulped. Focus Liam, I scolded myself; you knew a lot about the CIA before Buffy came along. She wasn't everything. But she was. She is.

"Well. . ." I started to say before a soft female voice interrupted my train of thought.

"I am the source for the CIA, my name is Elizabeth Summers. I worked, for the CIA, for five years, under the false belief that they were the good guys. I learned better, and acted as a double for several months before the war broke out. However I was by no means the only double in the CIA, gathering inside information for the I.N. The I.N. has many sources". Buffy ended with a smile, she really was perfect

What was Buffy doing here? She must have followed us on her motor bike. Why was she revealing everything? She was disobeying orders, and putting herself in harms way. The fact that she had risked her life to come here and help me, scared the hell out of me. It also made me love her more.

Buffy's beautiful eyes looked into mine searching for anger. She found none, so she sighed contentedly.

The reporter nodded, and before I could think, I found that I was talking, in front of a room full of people, with millions more about to see it world wide "In the interest of full disclosure, I should also reveal, that after Buffy left the CIA, long after she was a double, we began to date."

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, idiot. That's what I was.

At last Buffy was smiling, because I felt as if I had just done the chicken dance on live television. I don't even know what that is, I just know that, Faith thinks it's embarrassing. And Faith rarely is embarrassed.

"Are you still dating?" The reporter asked.

"Yes, in fact we recently became engaged"

All those names that I called myself a few second's, ago, suddenly didn't even began to cover what an idiot I am. I didn't mean to ask her. Not now anyways. But still it felt right

But what I had said, I no longer cared about. All that really mattered now is what Buffy would say?

Buffy POV:

"Are you still dating?" the reporter, who had an ugly scar running down his neck, asked. I frowned at his fashion sense; he must be one good reporter to get away with wearing that!

I was about to say yes when Liam took the words right out of my mouth

"Yes" then he added a few more of his own "in fact we recently became engaged"

What? I almost fainted on the spot. Then a smile began to spread across my face. What Liam said seemed right. Even though this isn't how I imagined getting engaged it seemed more right, more real then anything else in my life.

"Yes we are" I said slipping my hand into his smiling when he happily squeezed it...

When we walked, down the aisle, a month later,

as husband and wife,

My hand was still curled

up in his.

And I know it will stay that way.

Forever.

('Cause, that's the whole point.)

Please Review: My sanity (and a sequel) depends on it. When you review, please vote on the following issue: Do you want a sequel? 1. No 2. Yes please, A sequel, about buffy and angel discovering angel's origin's, while they develop a sanctuary. Please feel free to contribute suggestions, and do remember review, because no reviews equal no sequel (The rhyme was unintentional, i swear)/


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